The casting director told him to call a hotline and leave a minute-long recording of his best impressions. Roumie said he probably included an impression of Marlon Brando because Roumie was going through a Marlon Brando phase at the time.
Roumie then proceeded to demonstrate to Fallon and “The Tonight Show” audience his impression of Brando, as well as his impressions of Ray Romano, Bob Dylan, and Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers.
“Congratulations on ‘The Chosen,’” said Fallon, noting the unusual origins of the show. “This is a giant hit.”
Roumie, who has shared elsewhere that he was out of food at the time he was cast in “The Chosen,” explained that he had played the role of Jesus in some short films Jenkins had created. So Jenkins called Roumie and offered him the chance to play Jesus again in the first four episodes of a new TV series Jenkins was doing, although Jenkins said the show would likely not “go anywhere.”
At the time, those four episodes were the “most episodes of television I’d ever worked on,” Roumie said. So the cast and crew shot those four episodes. The show was still working on raising money for the rest of the first season when the trailer for the first four episodes came out, and fundraising increased dramatically.
“Then every season, up until the fourth season, we would find a different way of crowdfunding,” said Roumie. In 2022, prior to the release of Season 4, the Come and See Foundation was established to support the translation and distribution of “The Chosen.”
Season 5, the latest season of “The Chosen,” was fully funded last year. In February, Jenkins announced that the show had made an agreement to stream exclusively in the United States on Amazon’s Prime Video. After 90 days on Prime, the new episodes will also be available in The Chosen app. Jenkins has repeatedly voiced his commitment to fans to keep the show free to watch.
Roumie told Fallon that the first two episodes of Season 5 will release in theaters on March 28. One week later, three more episodes will release, followed by the final three episodes the next week. That way, by Easter weekend, people can binge the entire season in theaters if they want.
Fallon showed viewers a clip from the upcoming season and told Roumie, “It’s absolutely epic. This season is going to be huge. You’re doing a great job.”
Watch the full interview below.
, where he talked to host Jimmy Fallon about the unexpected success of “The Chosen.”){kind=link}